Archaeology
Iron-Age Hill Fort
Iron-Age Hill Fort
A great hill-fort overlooking the valley.
This hill fort, high on Otford Mount, for centuries known as Stumbleburrow, seems likely to have been a prehistoric promontory camp, dated to the Iron Age.
Promontory camps are generally considered to be high status sites, reflecting the large size and the resources which would have gone into their construction.
Whether the Otford hill fort was occupied seasonally or permanently is not known. Most promontory forts were used for intensive year-round settlement and would have contained a mixture of domestic structures (ie roundhouses), animal enclosures and areas for other activities. Until Otford’s hill fort is excavated, we cannot know.
Lidar Image of Otford Mount Hill Fort
Looking across the Chalkpit to the Mount. The bare hillside reveals Iron Age ramparts (arrowed)
Steps up the eastern rampart
The southern ramparts of Otford Hill Fort
Iron Age craftsmanship – the Gundestruo Couldron
A hard push up Row Dow in 1919. The bank on the right forms part of the western ramparts
The Battersea Shield, a votive offering recovered from the Thames
The footpath crosses the centre of ‘Stumbleburrow’ Hill-Fort
The fort’s commanding view was utalised in 1874 as a site for the ‘Fox-Tower’
The Bronze Age Mount
Their memory lives on
The Bronze Age Mount
Iron-Age Hill Fort
A great hill-fort overlooking the valley
Iron-Age Hill Fort
.
The Romano British Cemetery
The Roman way of death
The Romano British Cemetery
Progress Villa
Unearthing a Roman farm
Progress Villa
The Pottery Field
Discvery of local industry
The Pottery Field
The Palace & Becket's Well
A palace and a holy well
The Palace & Becket's Well
Church Field Villa
One of the earliest British centres of Christian worship
Church Field Villa
The Bronze Age Mount
Their memory lives on
The Bronze Age Mount
.
The Romano British Cemetery
The Roman way of death
The Romano British Cemetry
Progress Villa
Unearthing a Roman farm
Progress Villa
Pottery Field
Discvery of local industry
Pottery Field
The Palace & Becket's Well
A palace and a holy well
The Palace & Becket's Well
Church Field Villa
One of the earliest British centres of Christian worship
Church Field Villa
